I can learn from Becks the master

Roberto Carlos yesterday surrendered his crown as the king of free-kicks to David Beckham and announced his intention to learn from the England captain during tomorrow's clash with Brazil.

The Real Madrid player, famous for his amazing goals from set-pieces, gave Beckham a football lesson when Real humiliated Manchester United 3- 2 in a Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford two years ago.

But Roberto Carlos, who tomorrow faces Beckham for the first time since that match, does not believe he will enjoy such superiority in Shizuoka and instead placed Beckham in the upper echelons of the world game.

'David Beckham is one of the top three players in the world,' he said, 'and marking him is always the most difficult job. It will be one of the biggest challenges of my career and I hope to learn a lot, because when you are faced with such a

tricky opponent you have to learn.

'We will concentrate on the space between players and mark English strikers man-for-man. But Beckham is better than me at free-kicks because he can do so much more with the ball.'

Brazil are likely to make only one change from the side which defeated Belgium 2-0 to reach the quarter-final, with former Middlesbrough midfielder Juninho possibly making way for Kleberson or Ricardinho.

As they trained at their base close to the Shizuoka stadium yesterday, Rivaldo complimented English football but vowed that victory would help show he was back to his brilliant best after a recurring calf injury.

He said: 'Every time I have played with Barcelona against an English team it has been a totally new game. English football is not what it used to be a few years ago with the long ball because now they play only good football.

'I can play freely against them because England play and let play. Coming back from the injury has been a lonely quest and playing 90 minutes most of the games is still difficult, but to come out of the England game victorious would be another step to showing that I have recovered.'

This mood of recovery is catching. The clearest warning to England that Ronaldo is back to his best and ready to end their World Cup dream came in the form of a scorecard yesterday. Not a note of his goals so far in this tournament, however, but a tally of golf shots.

The relaxed Inter Milan striker strolled around the Honda ground in Miykoda clutching the record of an earlier round at the nearby Tsumago Golf Club. He is a very different person to the disturbed young man who cracked under pressure just hours before the biggest game of his life.

Now 25 and at peace with himself, Ronaldo prefers not to speak about the events prior to the final of France '98, when mystery surrounded his absence and sudden re-appearance in the team which eventually lost to France.

Time has obviously healed both body and mind but, as someone who suffered severe trauma four years ago, Ronaldo is in the unique position of knowing what it feels like to be Beckham. Yesterday, he made it clear that this tournament is not big enough for both of them and that he will not show any sympathy.

' I can understand and completely sympathise with the pressure David Beckham is under,' said Ronaldo. 'I have watched him develop as a player and I know what it is like to have the eyes of the world on you.

' But for me and the team, getting to the quarter- finals means the pressure increases and we must put that aside. Against England I will play to my best and use what I have in reserve to come out as a winner.'

Ronaldo has scored five times already in these finals to bring his overall World Cup tally to nine. Restricting his explosive pace and shooting will be the key to any chance Sven Goran Eriksson's side have of progressing, but the man himself is driven by personal and collective ambition.

'Of course I dream of breaking Pele's record of 11 World Cup goals for Brazil, but at the moment the team is paramount in my thoughts,' he said.

'Winning is the most important thing and cannot be obscured by anything.

'England are excellent and are developing well. They have world-class players who, if they were in any other country's shirt, would still be the best and I fear that they could surpass themselves.

'This will be the hardest game of the tournament. If we beat England, then we can reach our dream of winning the World Cup.'